Mayor Dijsselbloem says he will look ‘even more closely’ at directions to be given to demonstrating activists. The mayor made this known in a letter to the city council about activists arrested at a demonstration at TU/e.
This answer comes as a result of the questions raised by the parties, GroenLinks and Party for the Animals. They wished to know why the police ended a protest against Shell’s presence at the TU/e careers fair.
About twenty students were arrested during the protest in March this year and were fined heavily afterwards. However, the judge ruled that the activists’ right to freedom of demonstration “should never have been curtailed“.
Regret
“After expressing their message inside the TU/e building, the demonstrators were requested to continue their activities outside the building, where they would have plenty of space to further spread their message. That was the approach,”says Mayor Jeroen Dijsselbloem.
Activists who did not follow police orders were subsequently arrested. One of the protesters was even detained for three days.
Dijsselbloem therefore concludes ‘that the demonstration was terminated too quickly, without there being any grounds for this decision according to the Public Manifestations Act. The Act specifies that demonstrations can be ended protect people’s health, in the interest of traffic, or to combat or prevent disorder.
Source: Studio040
Translated by: Seetha
